Apple court filings disclose up to 59% gross margin on the iPhone, twice the iPad spread

Apple never reports profit margins on its individual products, preferring to give an averaged-out figure for all of its products and services. This usually leaves analysts and researchers doing intricate guesswork to arrive at the big, fat gross margins Apple juices from its biggest earner, the iPhone.

The documents filed peg an Apple iPhone to have commanded 49-58% gross margin for the two years between April 2010-March 2012, which is an astonishing figure. The iPad doesn't earn nearly as much for the same period, commanding a normal gross margin premium of 23-32%, depending on the model.

This only comes to confirm once again how dependent are both Apple, as well as Samsung, which reported earnings today, on the high-margin handsets they produce. More than two thirds of these companies' profits come from the iPhone and Galaxy lines, making the fight in court all so important for both companies, as together they grab more than a half of the whole smartphone market worldwide.

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Yeah it is very over priced but actually a very decent marketing strategy. They are a "Premium" device which look all pretty and thus become a status symbol. But you do have a good point with the statement "ifools" because in reality, people are some reason willing to shell out all this money for a device with less tech than cheaper devices.

so what you are saying is. pick the phone based only on specs?.. wow.. you still dont get it. there is people that is not about specs.. if it were.. no low end Androids would exist..theDroid Charge would be a memory...

Yep, and it's also y Pepsi is so wealthy despite selling less than coke, and y bently lambo, and Ferrari r so wealthy despite selling less than Toyota Nissan, and Honda. It's called big business idiot every one does it. U thought u were bashing apple, but no it's what all companies do. Samsung is out to get your money too fool

actually, those super car companies dont turn profits many years. Lambo recently had to sell out to Audi just to stay a float. Those cars are super expensive because they are hand built and made with very expensive materials for light weight (and some nice sitting leather too :) )

When you buy a Lambo, you know your getting extreme engine tech/horse power for that price.
When you buy an iphone, you pay the "lambo" price but you dont get any of that stuff. you get an over priced Civic. Yea, its reliable and to many its nice, but its not worth anywhere near what they charge. If your going to pay for top end, you should get top end. Thats why Samsung has been so successful. You cant argue the power per dollar ratio that they deliver. That's high end + value. They charge a Porsche or Ferrari price for their top phones, but they give you a Porsche/ Ferrari for the money.

I couldn't have said it any better. But many people don't see it that way. they argue that software makes the difference.. I would agree but when a system has minimal change because of the upgrade model being used well that,s a whole new story.

Wait a minute... I have seen Apple's patent filings of late... I dont believe that they are paying millions for "Slide to Unlock" or "Rectangles with round courners" or today's listing of "Google Glass clone with Retina display". These are thre great ideas that come out of a couple of guys sitting on the couch smoking dope coming up with "the next best thing". The sad part is that the world has fallen for them over and over again. My dad always said...."A new sucker is born every day."

How much R&D does it take to do an incremental increase? Their patent filings are overly broad and only taking advantage of an (very) imperfect patent system. Just about everything Apple is known for is built on the back of someone else's work. The GUI, the processor, the display, the OS, voice assistant? More like Xerox PARC, ARM, various display manufacturers, BSD/Unix, and Nuance.
The only truly successful thing Apple ever did on it's own is iTunes, which is after they agreed not to get into the music business after losing a trademark battle with the Beatles over an apple being used as a logo.

Yes they do, but your post is to take jabs at apple for doing what all companies do. Lambos sell for upwards of 1 million. It takes no where near that to build one, and name one company that wouldn't wanna make 1 billion a year while paying out $100 a year.

Sorry but you must be crazy if you see any Lamborghini selling for a million dollars, only collectors' Lamborghini's like the '67 Muira would cost more, all the others are under half a million, get your figures correct before jumping down someone throat. Putting Apple in the same league as super car makers who live and breathe performance machines is dumb. Only people with some sort of self esteem problems go around flaunting an iPhone as if it's some sort of status symbol. It's a damn cell phone, stop the bs and get a life. With a lamborghini you get to have a sleek super machine that will still look the part 10+ years later, with an iPhone it will get replaced in one year and to keep up your delusional status you will have to pay full price for another with incremental upgrades. Drip feeding the idiots who willfully fall into their plans to monopolize the market with basically everyday tech but at a premium price. Let me make my decision on what tech I want by trying out different things and holding my phone to my ear how I have been for years.

@darkkjedi
oh is it?. But the last time i checked there was no standard usb, bluetooth connectivity or a micro sd slot in iphone though these are available in an entry level phone. Got anything to say?

Yes the iPhone is the first phone with Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity it had standard USB thru its charger and doesn't need sd due to 64 gigs internal and iCloud. That's lots to say jackass. Entry level phones have plastic resistive screens, no apps let alone the best apps, they don't have 64 gigs, dual core chips or stainless steel and gorilla glass. They don't have every developer and accessory maker catering to them. U should just hush dumbass. The iPhone is the benchmark for a reason idiot

And this is why Apple is so overpriced. Look at the $99 Atrix HD vs. the $200 iPhone 4S. The Atrix HD comes with a large HD screen, 4G Lte, a processor running at almost twice the speed (800 MHz vs 1.5 GHz) and twice the RAM, but the iPhone is the one that costs twice the price? WTF?! You would think the iPhone 4S would be free if the Atrix HD is $99. So why isn't it? Apple is greedy as s$$$.

Motorola one of the most important phone manufacturers, heck not only did they invent the cell phone, they also made Android popular when they released the OG DROID. The DROID RAZR MAXX actually outsold the iPhone on Verizon and now that they are owned by Google Motorola is more important than ever.

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